Jazz Returns To Sunday Brunches

Jazz and brunch go together like chicken and waffles, like mussels and fries, like eggs and bacon. So when this reporter heard that an old favorite brunch was starting up again and a new one had arrived, I set my sights on checking out both.

Each one had a distinct flavor and sound. Each one reminded me how much I had missed the jazz brunch scene in New Haven — decimated by the Covid-19-related shutdown, but now coming back to life.

My first stop was Atelier Florian, the Chapel Street restaurant that pre-pandemic had been the home to a variety of jazz performances curated by Nick Di Maria via the New Haven Jazz Underground. Yesterday was the first jazz brunch and featured Di Maria himself as well as guitarist William Brennan. Di Maria was not only thrilled to be back at it, but was particularly thrilled to be back at this particular establishment.

“I played my last pre-shutdown gig here” he said, also noting that this was the first brunch he had played since March. While his Jazz Underground has slowly started to book more gigs, he is hoping for a return of all performances eventually as the guidelines allow. ​“We were doing shows six times a week before Covid,” he noted, including weekly performances at Florian, Cafe Nine and Three Sheets. ​“It made me so sad” not to perform, he said.

Di Maria expressed hopefulness about the future based on what has happened with shows he had played thus far. ​“It’s really nice to see the city adapting” he said. ​“I feel safe here” he added, and was quick to note that he and Brennan would also be practicing their own safety measures — both of them wearing their masks while playing and Di Maria using a mute on his trumpet, which he said blocks the bell.

“It’s slow but sure,” said Di Maria. ​“Connecticut is doing so well now,” he added. ​“I’m proud.”

Manager Mark Turocy was also thrilled that jazz was back. He pointed out the new extended patio with booths that opened three weeks ago, which is also when brunch restarted (Atelier Florian had already begun serving dinner indoors back in June, as soon as it was allowed). Turocy noted the restaurant had already seen customers returning, and reservations increased once people found out the music would resume inside as of September, when guidelines allowed.

Diners properly spaced apart both inside the restaurant and outside on the patio laughed and raised glasses while enjoying a menu that included the restaurant’s take on classic brunch fare, such as smoked salmon Benedicts and croissant French toast, as well as Atelier Florian favorites such as oysters and moules frites three different ways — all while jazz filtered through the room and out into the city. Within the hour the clouds broke, the sky got brighter and a few more people filled the streets, as if the music called them all out of hiding.

My second stop was the Orchid Café at ConnCAT (Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology) over in Science Park, where jazz brunch had premiered three weeks earlier and had already become a rousing success, according to ConnCAT CEO and President Erik Clemons.

Past events at the café had included live jazz, ​“but we wanted to, in the midst of a pandemic, bring community together,” said Clemons. So the jazz brunch was born.

“I had a vision of creating a space for people to gather,” he said. ​“This is a collision of good people, good food, and good music.” He noted that there was an ​“array of people” here on this Sunday. ​“People came from as far away as Norwalk to be here today,” he added. ​“It demonstrates the power of community.”

And the power of good word of mouth and perhaps even of stomachs rumbling, as the café’s menu — cooked and served by ConnCAT’s culinary school students — was small but mighty. Five selections included New Orleans-style shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, tacos (available with salmon or veggies), an egg-and-then-some combo plate called Breakfast in Bed, and bourbon grilled peach French toast. This reporter could not pass up anything that began with the words ​“bourbon grilled peach,” so that is what I ordered, along with a refreshing drink made from a combination of lemonade and orange, apple, pineapple and peach juices, Free samples of the juice were being offered to customers in small covered cups at the register where the food was being ordered. The juice and the meal were both sublime and the living, for the first time in months, was easy.

Outdoor seating gave immediate access to the music, this Sunday presented by The William Fluker All Star Jazz Band. Fluker — who is also a teacher in New Haven and a mentor at ConnCAT — said the band is ​“sometimes a quintet, sometimes a quartet,” and on this day would include himself on trumpet, Barry Reese on drums, Morris Trent on bass, and Mike Carabello on keyboard. The quartet began a bit after noon and continued an almost non-stop jam for almost two hours before taking a break, offering takes on classics such as ​“The Girl from Ipanema” and ​“Wonderful World.” Patrons applauded and shouted yes over their empty plates under a near cloudless blue sky.

“For me, the power in jazz is the idea and ability to communicate without speaking,” said Clemons. ​“People know exactly what they are saying, and the musicians know exactly what people are feeling.”

Clemons thinks the jazz brunch is exactly what people are looking for as they search for safe and fun ways to be together again. ​“People are looking to be with people and be happy and positive and progressive. This is an invitation to a collective, an understanding of what community is all about.”

Jazz Brunch at Atelier Florian runs every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with music from 11:30 a.m.to 2:30 p.m. Jazz Brunch at the Orchid Cafe runs every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. with music from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Please see each location’s websites for more details, including the schedule of performers as well as menus available.